The name of the most beautiful lake on the Kola Peninsula. Murmansk lakes. Lake Big Woodyavr

Old secrets of Seydozero Author - V.I. Gorshkov (Obninsk) The road along which we walked from the Motovsky Bay of Lovozero turned out to be extremely good, where it crosses the swamp, there is an old, but still preserved log path. Somewhere nearby, a raging river roars. And a few kilometers to the left and right of the road, the slopes of the Ninchurt and Kuamdespakhk mountains rest against low clouds, resembling a giant gate.

The taiga is good here, chic dense spruces with a rare birch undergrowth, which is practically non-existent in places. We quite quickly crossed a narrow isthmus separating two reservoirs, and found ourselves in front of the expanse of a lake of extraordinary beauty. Here it is - Seydozero!

I have visited the water and hiking routes of the Kola Peninsula more than once. With friends from the university and his future wife Tanya, he also walked along the low mountain range of the Lovozero tundra. This was after graduating from the geographical department of Kaluga University during the first trip on a tourist trip to the peninsula. Then I discovered the amazing world of Lovozero Seydozero, surrounded by a horseshoe of low mesas with steep cliffs, with which many legends, tales and mysterious stories are associated. And since then dreamed of coming back here again. And finally, having received a short vacation at the end of the summer, together with my wife we ​​escaped to Lapland, which we loved so much. Since ancient times, the indigenous inhabitants of the Sami peninsula or the Lapps in a special way singled out such secluded and closed reservoirs. Hundreds of years ago, they played a significant role in the pre-Christian pagan beliefs of the Sami. The name itself comes from the word "seid" - this was the name of the sacred stones, in which, according to the beliefs of the Sami, the spirits or souls of the dead Noids, or shamans, live. As a rule, such stones were endowed with witchcraft power, they were worshiped, made sacrifices, used in divination. It should be noted here that it was not the stone itself that was endowed with magical power, but the spirit that lives in it. With insufficient respect, the spirit could leave the stone and then it remained forever empty. The largest seid in Lapland is the Flying Stone on the Ponoy River, known from the books of the ethnographer V.V. Charnolusky, who studied the pre-Christian beliefs of the Saami in the 20-30s of the last century. So the word "seid" can be translated as "holy", "sacred" or even "sorcerer". Therefore, Seydozero - "Holy Lake". There are several of them on the Kola Peninsula. One is located in the vicinity of Nizhnekamenskoye Lake on Ponoy, there used to be an old Lapp churchyard. There is another one somewhere in the Monche-tundra. And, undoubtedly, the most famous Lovozero Seydozero.

The picturesque lake hidden in the mountains is so closely connected with the culture, history and beliefs of the Saami that it is time to create a Lapp reserve here, which, by the way, is what the inhabitants of the village of Lovozero are talking about next to the mountain range of the same name. The most famous legend of Seydozero is the legend of the death of Chude-Chuervya. We heard it during the first visit to Lovozero from a local hunter and fisherman Ivan Shitov, who sheltered us in his fishing hut on the banks of Lovozero. During the daytime transition, we were caught in a long rain, the weather did not spoil us then. On a bright polar night, we warmed ourselves for a long time and dried ourselves by a red-hot stove, and Vanya, seeing us as fresh interlocutors, told his hunting tales and various stories without counting. Among them, I was especially interested in the legend about the attack of foreigners on the Lovozero Lapps. Wanting to visually illustrate this story, Ivan ran his fingernail along our topographic map and, calling the strangers Norwegians, showed the places where the events took place.

Later, while studying the literature on the pre-Christian beliefs of the indigenous population of the Kola Peninsula, I found a more complete presentation of it. For the first time, apparently, this legend was written down by the famous Russian scientist V. Yu. Vize from the words of Kuzma Danilov, Semyon Galkin and Philip Sorvanov / presumably residents of the Lovozero churchyard /. I will quote it here in full.

“The Chud chief Chude-Chueriv came to Lovozero with his retinue, they were all unbaptized, and began to rob the Lapps. The Lapps fled from them to one island on Lovozero, where the “Old Woman” stands, which they bring gifts when they go hunting. Chud noticed where the Lapps fled, mounted a karbasa and set off in pursuit of them. Then one Lapp began to beat the "korvi-kart" (tambourine, - ed.) and asked the "Old Woman" to make the weather. The "Old Woman" heard him and made the weather great, so that all the Chud, chasing the Lapps on karbas, drowned in the lake. Only Chude-Chueriv and his cook remained alive. They managed to get to Motka-lip, where the cook began to cook dinner. And the cook was a sorcerer. He cooks, stirs with a spoon in the cauldron and says: “I wish I could shake the Lop heads like that.” At this time, the Lapps approached and, seeing the Chud chief, wounded him in the leg with a crossbow, but they wounded him in the leg in order to take him alive. The cook, when he saw this, took the treasury and, so that the Lapps would not get it, threw it into water, then he himself rushed into the lake and, like a pike, swam along Seidyavryok to Seydozero. Where Chivruay ("chivr" - crushed stone, "wai" - stream) flows into Seydozero, he climbed ashore, but here he turned to stone. That is why the mountain that stands in that place is called Pavratchorr. Chude-chueriv was forced to surrender. He accepted the baptized faith and, as a sign of this, put on the kangu (Lappish shoes) on his left leg, which is visible on him even now. For some time he lived among the Lapps, and when he grew old, he went to the tundra, and there he remained a stone. It still stands in the same place, which is why the tundra is called Kuyvchorr." Philip Sorvanov told the end of the story a little differently. According to him, when the Lapps wounded the Chud chief, he did not give up, but fled to the tundra, where he turned to stone. In the same place where he fled, a bloody trail is still visible.

Kuyva on Seidozero enjoys special honor from the Seidozero Lapps (in winter they live in the Lovozero churchyard). Driving on karbass past Kuyvchorr, the Lapps are afraid to shout loudly and swear because of the fear that the "Old Man" will be angry. They turned to us with a request that we also observe possible silence near Kuyva. Lapps avoid polluting the water in Seydozero, as the "Old Man" does not like this, and otherwise he will not give fish. When the need arises to draw a cauldron of water, the Lapp will never scoop up water with a smoky cauldron directly from the lake, as is customary, but scoop it up with a clean ladle and then pour the water into the cauldron. If the weather is bad for a long time, the Lapps say: "The old man is not angry." About Pavr (cook - author's note), the Lapps only say that he stands by himself, does no harm, but he himself does not like to be disturbed. On Seydozero there is also a tundra called Nepeslogchorr. According to the Lapp legend, three sorceresses, a mother with two daughters were once petrified in this place.

From the legend it becomes clear that the "Old Woman" is a seid standing on one of the islands of Lovozero, most likely on the Koldun Island in the southern part of the lake. "Kuyva" - a dark silhouette on a sheer cliff. The bloody footprint of the Chud chief is a well-known ornamental mineral eudialyte, red in color. Many names of mountains and rivers can still be found on a topographic map. In general, it turns out that the legend of the death of Chude-Chuervya is well tied to the area. While planning my itinerary before my trip to Lapland, I decided that it would be interesting to try and follow the "footsteps" of this legend, which probably conveys some real events. In the Middle Ages, there really were clashes between the Kola Lapps and invaders from Scandinavia. And the Lovozero tundra itself and, of course, Seydozero have long attracted me, as a photographer, with the amazing colors of the untouched nature of the North. And finally, the long-awaited vacation.

It took us three whole days by boat to get to the mouth of Seydjavryok, a short but very turbulent river that originates at Seydozero and flows into Lovozero. Stormy weather and high waves forced them to move along the rugged coastline and take shelter behind rare islands, but this did not always help. Many times on the open capes of the lake, where it was difficult to stand even on one's feet from the wind, one had to wait a long time for a lull in order to continue the journey. The wind did not subside and did not change its direction during short, still bright nights, periodically bringing charges of fine rain, and then everything around was hidden in a lead haze. But over Motka, as the Sami called the isthmus between two reservoirs, a gap with a clear blue sky constantly hung, and a hurricane-force wind blew from the Seydozero basin, like from a giant pipe. High waves roamed the bays of Lovozero. Here and there the wind tore the mist from their foamy crests, twisting it into spiral whirlwinds that swept over the raging lake. It seemed that we had angered some evil spirits who did not want to let us into the sacred lake.

The way to the Koldun Island in such weather is closed. We will no longer be able to see the seid that saved the Lapps from the invasion of foreigners. On Motka at the mouth of the Seydjavryok we hid the boat and some food for the return trip. Then you have to walk.

Previously, at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, there was a Lappish churchyard on Motka, consisting of several vezh. The Lapps were engaged in fishing in the southern part of Lovozero and on Seydozero. Already before the war, the graveyard disappeared and until the beginning of the 80s there was only a house of a telephone operator who served the line running along the eastern part of the Lovozero tundra. From the house in a wide clearing, overgrown with tall grass and willow-herb, there was only an overgrown foundation and telephone poles with rusty wire hanging on them. On the road leading from the former graveyard across the isthmus, we came to Seydozero.

The mountains surrounding the ring did not cover the lake from the wind, a large swell walked along the water surface. The tops of the mountain ledges were hidden in low clouds, and the western side of the lake basin was barely visible in the haze of rain. The road led us to a small house and trailer near the shore. Both the house and the trailer have long been used by rare tourists and local fishermen for an overnight stay. In such inclement weather, it is pleasant to spend the night next to a low stove, feel how heat spreads from it around the room, and listen to the sound of rain outside the window. At night the rain stopped, but the wind blew so that the whole hut shuddered under its blows, and in the morning it became cold even in a sleeping bag.

The old walls could not withstand the pressure of the air, and the wind walked around the room. The morning brought some improvement in the weather. The sun began to peek through the low clouds. After a short breakfast, taking a camera with us, we went to the nearest hill to explore the surroundings. On its top, local missionaries installed a two-meter Orthodox cross, apparently to expel dark forces from the lake. Prayer tablets are attached to both sides of the cross. On the east one is written: "Let God arise, and let his enemies open." And on the western one - "We worship your Cross, Master, we sing and glorify your holy Resurrection." Later we learned that in 1998 an earthquake with a magnitude of about 4 points occurred in the Lovozero tundra, this happened almost immediately after the installation of the cross on Seydozero. This is how you start to believe in the Holy Spirit and in evil spirits. Around the cross, on moist cushions of lush reindeer moss, several aspen mushrooms flaunted, and clusters of lingonberries reddened on mossy tussocks. From the hillsides overgrown with spruce forest, a view opened up to the western part of the lake, where on a massive rock guarding the entrance to the Elmarajok gorge, a dark spot of Kuyva was guessed.

Kuyva - an old man, a giant, a sorcerer. His figure has been preserved on Seydozero. It looms as a hundred-meter silhouette on a sheer cliff of Mount Kuyvchorr. Now it is a place of pilgrimage for tourists, as well as various seekers of lost civilizations, who are inclined to see in Kuiva both the giant Atlantean, and the self-portrait of a Hyperborean, and a "snowman". In pursuit of turning what is desired into reality, many people mistake various natural and geological formations for man-made monuments of disappeared civilizations and even traces of alien aliens. Several publications on this topic began to attract a large number of tourists to the Lovozero tundra. Mountains of tin cans and bottles began to grow along the shores of the once reserved lake. And the age-old silence, guarded by Kuyva, was increasingly disturbed by the sound of an ax and even the crackle of a chainsaw. Tourists are different.

A few hours of walking along a path winding through the taiga along the northern shore of a beautiful lake - and we are standing in front of a high rock. Shreds of clouds are sliding down from the gently sloping peak. From a sheer wall several hundred meters high, a figure of an undoubtedly human is looking at us, easily guessed in the outlines of dark spots and stains, either rocks or lichen growths. It seems that she froze in a fit of some kind of dance or anger. Of course, it takes a little imagination to distinguish the head, the right hand raised up, the foot stepping. You can even see on the left leg the "kangu" mentioned in the legend - traditional Sami shoes with upturned toes. The height of the figure is about one hundred meters. Many believe in the artificial origin of Kuiva, but we, unfortunately, were disappointed in this, probably expecting to see something similar to giant images on the slopes of the Andes in the Nazca Valley.

The slope of the wall is uneven. Weathering processes gradually destroy it, splitting it into pieces. At the foot of the cliff there is a huge scree of destruction products. With a great deal of confidence, we can say that hundreds of years ago the wall with Kuyva looked different. In general, the fact that Kuyva has a natural origin has long been known. In 1923, academician A.E. Fersman examined the image of Kuyva, and in his book "Remembrance of the Stone" he wrote about this: "As we were convinced during our expedition, the dark figure is formed by a combination of lichens, mosses and wet streaks on the rocks." Moisture on steep cliffs, most likely, is taken from snowfields melting from above, seeping through crevices.

But when, remembering the old legend, you look up at the huge figure of Kuyva, you feel the surrounding taiga silence, somewhere in the depths of your soul, faith in the power of the giant sorcerer guarding the purity and tranquility of the mountain lake wakes up. We left in silence, talking almost in a whisper, paying tribute to the old traditions, or secretly afraid to anger the giant.

During our excursion the wind calmed down a bit. In the afternoon, we were going to move to the southern shore of the lake, to a place where the Chivruay gorge opens with a wide gate into the Seydozero basin. Having had a snack in the hut that sheltered us, we packed our backpacks and set off along the path, now along the eastern shore of the lake. There is a bay here, closed by a long spit, overgrown with taiga. It is called Malaya Seyda and is connected to the Seydozero (Big Seyda) by a short channel with a fast current. We went around the bay and ended up at the source of the Seydjavryok River, mentioned in the legend. The cook Chude-Chuervya, turning into a pike, fled from the Lapps along this river to Seydozero. The river at its source is about 15-20 meters wide, in this place a suspension bridge on cables is thrown from one bank to another. He was in a very bad state. The wooden flooring was partially preserved, and even then it was completely rotten. From the right bank, someone supplemented it with a log, but still, crossing the bridge turned out to be a rather risky undertaking.

From the mouth of the river there was a good path along the entire southern shore of the lake. In some places it overlooked long rocky beaches. There was a real surf here, the waves shining with azure purity, rustling with fine gravel, measuredly rolled onto the shore. The purity of the water of the mountain lake was amazing.

When we walked about two kilometers along the shore of the lake, we came across a stream flowing down a steep canyon from the plateau. We began to climb along its right bank. It was the northern slope of Mount Ninchurt. Five hundred meters from the mouth of the stream, we stumbled upon another hut, we decided to spend the night here, since it is quite windy on the lake shore. It seemed that the taiga vegetation here is more lush than on the opposite shore of the lake. Thickets of blueberries reach the knees, and along the banks of the river - dense herbs. Apparently due to the northern exposure of the slopes, it is more humid here.

The next day we examined the mouth of the Chivruai River. According to the Sami legend, there should have been a seid here, into which the sorcerer-cook Chude-Chuervya turned into when he ran away from the Lapps chasing him. But we did not find any seid. Tourists often stopped at this place; a bathhouse made of large boulders was built on the shore. It is possible that the seid also suffered the fate of being invested in a sauna stove.

But, examining the surrounding slopes of the mountains through binoculars, I found several stone structures at an altitude of about 400 meters in the place where a steep ascent smoothly turns into a plateau. An hour later, leaving our backpacks below, we were climbing the slope of Ninchurta. They took with them only a camera, a tripod and, just in case, a rope. From the mouth of the stream, we began to climb up the gorge along a path winding among the trees. Bilberries and blueberries in the mountain crooked forests are so plentiful that in some places the shrubs were completely dotted with large berries. There seemed to be more berries than leaves.

The stream forms a canyon with low rocky ledges, from which it flows in small waterfalls. Walking along the bottom of the gorge is harder and longer, so we began to climb straight up the mountainside, leaving the gorge with a stream to our left. We quickly passed the border of the forest and found ourselves on a plateau that slopes gently towards the top of Ninchurt. The higher we climbed, the wider the amazing view of the huge bowl of Seydozero, bordered by mountain ledges, opened up. The stream, in front of the source of which we found ourselves, collects water from small wetlands on the gentle slope of the mountain. Apparently, there was a snowfield here for a long time, which provided the stream with the main food, but in this hot summer it melted, exposing a couloir strewn with boulders and stone blocks, turning into a gorge in a stepped fault. On the vertical walls of the steps, strange signs carved in stone immediately drew attention to themselves. At first glance, it seemed that someone was trying to chop monoliths into stone blocks at a height of 300 - 400 meters above the lake level.

Most of the signs were straight, starting straight from the top edge of the stone. Moreover, they were slightly wider at the top than at the bottom. We can say that they narrowed slightly in the direction from top to bottom. Some of the lines at the bottom gently curved. We found some more complex signs. They did not start from the upper edge of the stone, but were entirely located on the wall, and asymmetrical blindly ending branches were made from a straight vertical furrow. The cross section of the potholes is trapezoidal, the depth reaches 1.5 cm, the width is from 5 to 10 cm. They were probably made with a tool similar to a chisel or something like a flat core. In some places, it seems that traces left by the tool are even visible.

We looked at the strange signs for a long time, passing from one to another. Maybe it was geologists who once made samplings of minerals? But the difference in the forms of signs, their number and location somehow does not fit with possible geological surveys, at least this can be easily found out. Or maybe they were beaten out by shamans for ritual purposes? Already at home, looking at the pictures, I thought that these signs could also be runes that are found in the Scandinavian countries. Runes are known as a form of ancient writing of the northern peoples - expressive, separated from each other signs - embossed or carved in wood, stone, metal products. They were believed to have magical properties, and therefore were highly valued for their ability to serve as amulets and as spells. Each rune has a name and its own symbolism that goes beyond its phonetics and literal meaning.

Here is what Anna Kaya writes in her book Runes. "Each rune from ancient times had its own name and specific meaning. In other words, certain objects or concepts were used to describe a particular runic sign. The reverse is also true: each rune in itself represents a certain concept or property that manifests itself through certain specific processes. Here the dual nature of the runes is clearly traced: on the one hand, certain processes and concepts describe this rune, on the other hand, with a deeper study of this rune, not only the essence of these objects or processes becomes clearer, but they themselves are or fall into the allotted place in the general Thus, each rune embodies a certain aspect, property or manifestation of existence, or, as the modern theory of runes considers it, one or another archetype of reality.

Each individual rune or combination of runic signs serves as a reflection of some internal structure of reality. Each rune is a symbolic repository of certain knowledge and concepts. Since the internal structure of reality is in constant motion, the runes reflecting this internal structure are also able to change, acquiring new content and being enriched with new meaning. The special connection of each rune with a certain object or property allows, by composing combinations of runic signs, to describe or explore each of the aspects of the universe. When compiling such combinations, the rune acts as an instrument of knowledge, and if we consider it as a symbol, then it is an analogue of reality. That is, the combination of runes as analogues of reality is capable of reflecting the totality of any events. "(Runes. Compiled by Anna Kaya, M .: Lokid, 1998).

If these are really runes, then their huge size is surprising. And the signs themselves, except for rectilinear ones, I could not somehow compare with those that are found and deciphered in the literature. A simple linear sign of the form "I" can be interpreted as the rune Is - it is translated into Russian as "ice". The Old English rune poem says the following about this rune:

Frost and ice in winter will fall like sparkling fire On the roads of gods and people. Do not hold back the icy stream flowing the wisdom of the ages. Remember, however, that Is only to delay May what is to come not dispel.

The Is rune symbolizes primordial ice and can be represented by the image of a glacier, embodying a frozen movement. In the very concept of ice lies the idea of ​​melting and its new transformation into water. On the other hand, a slowly advancing glacier acts as a force that is almost unstoppable. Thus, this rune means stopping, "freezing" any process or movement. It is believed that through Is it is possible to suspend, but not completely eliminate, any negative processes or phenomena that in one way or another affect a person's life. For example, you can stop the development of the disease. By visualizing the graphic shape of the Is rune, you can buy time to find a way out of the current situation. It is also believed that the Is rune can be used to complete the work begun, to restore harmony in the world and for protection. Anna Kaya in her book "Runes" writes that medieval legends of spiritual and chivalrous orders are associated with the Is rune, according to which it is in an ice cave, somewhere in inaccessible mountains lying at the end of the world, that there is a source of universal vitality, "the elixir of immortality ". Is it not in this gorge that this source is born, and what did unknown authors try to preserve or "freeze" with such a combination of runes? I did not find any interpretations of the "branched" runes. Most of all, these signs are similar to "ogham" - one of the most ancient types of writing. The basis of ogham is a vertical line - "druim". All written signs are attached to it from one side or the other, or crossing the line itself. Ogham signs were written from top to bottom vertically, rarely - horizontally. Only now this type of writing was widespread in Ireland and in the west of ancient Britain. In total, during a cursory examination, I counted seven linear signs, three "branched" ones. Moreover, there was one that went into the ground. Knowing how slowly the soil cover is formed in the conditions of mountain tundra and deserts, we can first say that they are not 10 years old. Tool marks and smooth edges of potholes could not have been so preserved. Moreover, the breed is not so hard. Most likely, they are no older than the petroglyphs that we saw three years ago in the abandoned village of Chalmny-Varre on the Ponoi River, and their age is 4000 years. Of course, for an accurate determination, they need to be examined by a specialist. I wonder if these signs are connected in any way with the legend of the death of Chude-Chuervya? It is possible that indirectly - yes. The sorcerers who found death in these mountains were aliens from the western countries. But to this day, in the vicinity of Lovozero, there are rumors about rituals that have long been celebrated on a mountain lake by local shamans. It is surprising that archaeologists have not yet become interested in these signs. Having finished the inspection and shooting of signs, we walked along the slope of the mountain in the direction of the Chivruay gorge. A steep ascent at an altitude of about four hundred meters above the lake level ended in a small gentle valley, similar to a huge terrace, which then again steeply went up to about 600 meters. Further, the slope gradually turned into a hilly plateau. On the edge of a gently sloping valley, from where a wonderful view of the western tip of Seidozero and Lovozero opens, we found three seidas - stone houris, as tall as a man, made of flat stones and separated by a distance of about a kilometer from each other. When examining the surrounding slopes with binoculars, we found a similar houris on the other side of the Chivruai gorge, again in the place where the steep slope begins to turn into a gentle plateau plain. It seems that similar houris are installed around the entire Seydozero at an approximately equal distance. Who and when and installed them here? Were not the same hands carved strange signs on the mountain ledges? For what purpose were these silent monuments created? Having examined the seids, we continued to climb to Ninchurt and an hour later we were already on the gentle top of the mountain at the geodesic sign crowning it. From here you can see all of Lovozero with one glance, you can clearly see the Pansky tundra, the nearest spurs of the Cave. Meanwhile, a strong and cold wind rose on the plateau, and we hurried down. We began to descend straight along a small gorge, along which we climbed. In the place where until recently there was a snowfield that gave rise to a stream, all the stones were covered with cushions of emerald green moss. Water oozed among the stones, and down the gorge a small stream with waterfalls was already flowing. We passed through the stone gates of the gorge, a forest is already growing on the slopes, and soon we found ourselves near the place where we left our things. For the night we again returned to the hut. Soon a fire crackled in the cast-iron stove, we cooked dinner and laid out sleeping bags on plank plank beds. Listening to the gusts of wind rushing over the tops of the fir trees and the noise of the surf coming from Seydozero, it was surprisingly cozy and warm to fall asleep. We spent a few more days in the Lovozero tundra. Despite the windy and rainy weather, we climbed up to the pass along the Chivruay gorge. We visited Lake Raiyavr, which lies in a beautiful "circus" with high rocky ledges. But the short vacation was coming to an end. And we decided to spend the last day before departure on the banks of Lovozero. In the morning we were pleasantly surprised by a good change in the weather. The sun shone brightly. The sky is clear. And the wind, that gusty wind, which had never turned out to be favorable, which had plagued us for almost two weeks, finally subsided. It was calm. Only slight ripples in places disturbed the calmness of the mirror-like surface of the lake, which now reflected both the clear blue sky and the shores with the sharp tops of fir trees. Silence enveloped everything. It seemed that the ears were covered with cotton wool, and even his own voice sounded somehow muffled. The sky remained cloudless throughout the day. Only in the evening, rare cirrocumulus clouds formed in the north and west. There was a beautiful sunset. The sky was painted in all shades of red, yellow, purple. In complete calm, the sky was reflected in the mirror surface of the bay, repeating the fantastic patterns of clouds painted in lilac and cream tones. The sun gradually sank behind the jagged edge of the spruce forest. Every now and then I jumped ashore with a camera, and kept filming and filming the same landscape, with the sunset sky constantly changing its colors. When the sun finally disappeared and the bright colors began to gradually fade, giving way to the approaching twilight, for some reason I thought that after such a quiet day there should be northern lights, and jokingly told Tanya that we would see him today. Although at this time of the year the radiance is extremely rare.

We sat by the fire for a long time, drinking tea, constantly throwing dry spruce branches into the fire. There were stars in the cloudless sky. It got very cold. The crackling of the fire was the only sound in the silence that enveloped us. Before going to bed, I finally went out to the lakeshore to look at the sky. In the west, a strange formation immediately drew attention to itself, similar to a large transparent cloud, even more of a silver haze with a subtle greenish tint. It was on the sunset side of the sky and at first it seemed that it was a cloud in the high layers of the atmosphere, which was hit by light from the setting sun. But it smoothly changed its shape and grew as an expanding ribbon higher and higher, rising to the zenith. Flashes began to run through it, and it became clear that this was the northern lights. I immediately called Tanya, and I myself began to feverishly set up a tripod with a camera on the sandy shore of the lake. Meanwhile, the ribbon of radiance, having reached the zenith, began to change its shape, in the northwestern part the light became brighter. Separate bright rays began to form from the ribbon, they quickly rose to the zenith, and after a while spread to the eastern part of the sky. After that, they blurred, turning into broad stripes, dimmed, and later became distinguishable only when flashes ran through them. Meanwhile, in the north, new rays appeared in the sky, from which a blurry air curtain formed, slowly shimmering with a greenish-silver light. But these radiances were no longer so intense. It seemed that some kind of thin ether was spreading across the sky, running through the stars with a light silvery wind. I took a few shots trying to capture the brightest aurora. When, already long after midnight, we climbed into our tent, rare flashes still ran across the sky. Wrapped up in a sleeping bag, I could not fall asleep for a long time. A dark silhouette of Kuyva, a high seid on the mountainside, strange signs on the rocks, flashes of northern lights floated before my eyes. I thought how amazingly well this corner was preserved, surrounded by "civilization", not yet losing its original purity. A little more time will pass and a beautiful tourist center will open in the regional center, the village of Lovozero, built in the form of a fabulous wooden tower. In a couple of hours, a fast boat will deliver tourists who are not burdened with material problems to Motka-lip. Tour guides will lead them along the paved paths to the once reserved lake, where, as museum exhibits, it will be possible to see seids, Kuyva, ancient writings. Pleasure boats glide along the calm surface of the lake. And, of course, hunting and fishing. Oh, how delicious the Seidozero trout is… Isn't that what they are trying to stop, "freeze" the mysterious spells on the rocks of Seidozero? Isn't this, like the irresistible force of a glacier, gradually moving towards a mountain lake? Will the Seidozero secrets being created there preserve? Tomorrow a long road home awaited us, filled with a slight longing for the beautiful northern region. Someday we will return here with a burning desire to once again breathe in the cold freshness of the northern taiga, but will we be able to touch the secrets of the mountain lake again? August 2001

Vitaly Gorshkov

Pedagogical workshop

Ozerova G.I., primary school teacher, secondary school No. 3 in Murmansk

Reservoirs of the Kola Peninsula
Educational material for an integrated local history course in the content of primary general education

Murmansk, 2007 - 2008 academic year y.y.

There are 111,609 lakes and 18,209 rivers on the Kola Peninsula with a length of more than 100 m.

Lakes of our region mostly small, of glacial origin. The lakes are fed by underground springs, flowing rivers, melt waters. The color of water in mountain lakes is most often blue with various greenish hues. Large lakes - Imandra, Umbozero and Lovozero lie in deep basins and have an elongated shape.

Imandra - a lake in the southwestern part of the Kola Peninsula.

The area is 876 km2. Depth up to 67 meters.

Over 140 islands, the largest is Erm (26 km 2). About 20 tributaries flow, including the Belaya River; the river Niva flows out.

The lake is divided by narrow channels into three main parts:

• Big (Khibiny) Imandra (area 328 km 2, length about 55 km, width 3-5 km),
• Ecostrovskaya Imandra (351 km 2)
• Babinskaya Imandra (133 km 2).

Lovozero - the fourth largest lake in the Murmansk region, located in the center of the Kola Peninsula, is also considered the center of Russian Lapland.

In the west it is bounded by the Lovozero tundra mountain range. It belongs to the Barents Sea basin, is connected with it by the Voronya River, which flows out of the lake.

Rivers of the Kola Peninsula are divided into four main groups:

1. semi-plain (Ponoy, Varzuga, Strelna),
2. canal rivers (Niva, Varzina, Kolvitsa),
3. ozar type (most of them, for example, Vostochnaya Litsa, Rynda, Umba, Drozdovka),
4. mountain type (Malaya Belaya).

The river beds are composed of rocks combined with boulders, pebbles, and sometimes sand. Outcrops of solid crystalline rocks or large stones washed out of glacial deposits form rapids and waterfalls.

In the east of the peninsula, the rivers are located radially. They originate on the heights of the central part and have a significant slope in the upper reaches; in the middle course they flow along the plain; before flowing into the sea, they cut through a plateau: in these places they are stormy, rapids, the slope increases sharply.

The rivers of the central part of the peninsula - purely mountainous, with a large number of stones, fast currents and various rapids - are of little use for water travel. They quickly overflow their banks and just as quickly return to their usual level, in rainy weather it is difficult to ford them. Often rivers go into loose sediment and appear on the surface in a new place. Swamp waters do not take a big part in the nutrition of mountain rivers, so the water in them is unusually clear. In winter, rivers do not freeze in some areas, while in others they freeze to the bottom, forming icing: water, displaced by ice, flows over its surface, spreading wide and freezing. Sometimes a large amount of bottom ice forms, filling the channel and causing winter floods. In winter, even in small rivers, the water can rise by more than a meter. If severe frost sets in during a winter flood and a normal ice cover is established, the bottom ice gradually melts, the water returns to normal levels, and the surface ice remains hanging, settling and breaking in places. Such hummocks are frequent on the rivers of the Kola Peninsula.

The rivers of the western part of the peninsula are interesting: for the most part they are short and very turbulent channels between lakes.

The main source of food for the rivers of the Kola Peninsula is melted snow water, which accounts for up to 60% of the annual runoff. The spring flood lasts 2-2.5 months (May-June), after which the rivers become very shallow. The water level in them, and consequently their permeability, is highly dependent on summer rains. Most of the peninsula's rivers change dramatically in character depending on how much precipitation falls in the summer. With an increase in the amount of water, some rapids become easy to pass, while others, on the contrary, become more dangerous. In dry summers, many small rivers and the upper reaches of large ones resemble a cobblestone pavement.

Ponoy River originates in the western forts of Keiv, stretches along the Lovozero tundra and flows into the throat of the White Sea. The only major river of the Kola Peninsula, flowing in a sustained latitudinal direction.

The nature of the river is changeable. The rapids alternate with stretches and sand and pebble shallows. In the upper reaches, the Ponoi River flows through a swampy plain in low swampy banks. In the middle reaches, numerous tributaries of the Ponoi River divide the plateau into a series of hills and ridges. At the last 110 km to the mouth, the river valley acquires the character of a canyon with steep rocky banks 30 to 50 m high.

Cola River from Finno-Ugric kulyok - fish river. It flows out of Lake Kolozero and flows into the Kola Bay of the Barents Sea. The length of the river is 83 km.

The area of ​​the basin is 3,850 km2. The source of the river is located at the exit from Kolozero, passes through Pulozero, flows into the Kola Bay of the Barents Sea. Food is mostly snow. High water in May-July. The average water consumption is 40 m 3 / s. Floatable in the lower reaches, rapids. The largest tributaries are Kitsa, Orlovka (right) and Tukhta, Bear (left). Settlements on the river: Kola, Molochny, Output, Shongui, Magnetity, Kildinstroy, Loparskaya, Kitsa, Taybola, Pulozero.

Tuloma River - one of the major rivers of the Kola Peninsula in the west of the Murmansk region. The length of the river is 64 km, the basin area is more than 20 thousand square meters. km.

Length 64 km. The basin area is 6,250 km2. The source of the river is located at the outlet of Lake Notozero, flows into the Kola Bay. There are over 5,000 lakes in the river basin, and there are numerous rapids on the river. Food is mainly snow and rain. High water in May-September. The average water consumption is 241 m 3 / s. It is covered with ice in late December - February. Ice drift in April - early June. Alloy of the forest. The largest tributaries are the Pech (right) and Pyive (left). In the old days, through Tuloma, there was a path from northern Finland to the Arctic Ocean: along the Nota River or along the Lotta River to Lake Notozero, and from it along Tuloma to the ocean. Settlements on the river: Kola, Murmashi, Verkhnetulomsky, Tuloma.

There are two hydroelectric power stations in Tuloma: the Verkhnetulomskaya HPP and the Nizhnetulomskaya HPP, which form the Verkhnetulomskoye and Nizhnetulomskoye reservoirs, respectively.

Upper Tuloma reservoir formed by the dam of the Verkhnetulomskaya hydroelectric power station on the river. Tuloma.

Completed in 1964-65. The area is 745 km2, the volume is 11.5 km3, the length is 85 km, the maximum width is 20 km, the average depth is 15 m. Created in the interests of energy, timber rafting and water supply. Fishing (salmon, trout, grayling, pike, whitefish).

Kovdozerskoye reservoir, (Knyazhegubskoye) , on the river Kovda.

Formed by the dam of the Knyazhegubskaya hydroelectric power station in 1955-57. In the backwater - lakes Kovdozero, Sennoye and others. Pl. 608 km 2, volume 3.44 km 2, length 60 km, max. width 38 km. Carries out partial long-term flow regulation; level fluctuations up to 3.5 m.

Serebryanskoye reservoir was formed in 1970 - 72. hydroelectric dam on the river. Crow.

The area is 556 km2, the volume is 4.17 km2, the length is 157 km, the maximum width is 20 km, the average depth is 7.5 m. It regulates the flow for many years, the reservoir level fluctuates within 6 m.

Lapland reserve.

Lapland State Natural Biosphere Reserve

It is located in the center of the Kola Peninsula, in the northern taiga zone. The area of ​​one of the largest nature reserves in Europe is 2784.35 sq. km. Such a territory was formed as a result of the expansion of the reserve to the northwest in 1983.

The Lapland Reserve was founded by the decision of the Leningrad Regional Executive Committee on January 17, 1930, with the aim of protecting and studying the northern taiga and mountain tundra, as well as preserving the population of wild reindeer, which by that time had only dozens of specimens left on the Kola Peninsula.

One of the initiators of the organization of the reserve and its first director was German Mikhailovich Kreps. From the day the reserve was founded and until the last day of his life, the environmental scientist Oleg Izmailovich Semenov-Tyan-Shansky (1906-1990) worked here.

During the Patriotic War (1941-1945), the reserve almost did not function. In 1951, along with a number of other reserves, the Lapland Reserve was closed. Thanks to the efforts of O.I. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky, in 1957 the reserve was restored to its former boundaries.

In 1985, by the decision of the UNESCO International Coordinating Center, the Lapland Reserve was given the status of a biosphere reserve, and it was included in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves. There are now 22 biosphere reserves in Russia. The main task of biosphere reserves is the conservation of biological diversity and global environmental monitoring.

Almost the entire territory of the Lapland Reserve, except for a small eastern part, subject to the influence of industrial emissions from the Severonickel plant, is untouched primeval nature.

There are no settlements or roads on the territory of the reserve. The protection of the reserve is carried out by the state inspectorate, which is on the staff of the reserve. In addition to the department of protection, the organizational reserve consists of a scientific department, a department of environmental education, a department for ensuring the main activities and administration. The entire staff of the reserve is 50 people. Management (office) is located in Monchegorsk.

The climate in the reserve is seaside subarctic: a long, rather warm winter with an average January temperature of 12.3 C. The snow cover reaches 130 cm and lies for 160-200 days. Summers are short and cool, the average July temperature is 14.1 C. Strong winds are frequent. The average rainfall is 490 mm.

The watershed of the White and Barents Seas passes through the reserve. The relief of the protected area is strongly rugged, includes 5 separate mountain ranges with heights from 600 to 1114 meters, eight lake-river systems, several rivers flow through the reserve from source to mouth. Forests occupy 52% of the territory of the reserve, rocks and mountain tundras 36%, lakes and rivers 4%, the rest is birch crooked forests and swamps.

One of the main values ​​of the reserve is virgin old-growth forests. The age of some forests that appeared after the last glacier disappeared is three, five and even ten thousand years. During all this time, no forces other than natural forces intervened in their development. The age of the trees in these forests reaches 400 - 500 and even 600 years, their height reaches 30 meters, and the diameter of the trunk is 70 centimeters. This is a unique phenomenon for such high latitudes. There are almost no such natural forests left in Europe. The forests of the reserve are dominated by coniferous species: Friza pine and Siberian spruce. There are spruce reindeer mosses and park-type pine forests rare for the Kola Peninsula.

According to the latest inventory, there are 559 species of vascular plants, 231 species of mosses, 115 species of lichens, 209 species of cap mushrooms in the reserve. Of the vascular plants growing in the reserve, 5 species are listed in the Red Book of Russia: alpine woodsia, lake halfwort, cinnabar-red cotoneaster, bulbous calypso, Trashshteiner's palmate root.

The reserve is home to 31 species of mammals, including: wild reindeer, elk, brown bear, wolf, fox, marten, weasel, American mink, wolverine, European beaver, hare, squirrel, muskrat, Norwegian and forest lemmings and others.

Thanks to conservation measures, the largest herd of wild reindeer in Scandinavia is doing well, its number is now more than 1000 heads. The European beaver, whose population on the Kola Peninsula was destroyed in the 19th century, was reacclimatized in the Lapland Reserve 60 years ago, and its population has stabilized.

There are 198 species of birds living permanently in the reserve and nesting here, migratory and noted on migration.

More than half of the birds nesting in the reserve are migratory and fly to Western and Southern Europe for the winter: red-throated and black-throated loons, mallard, teal-whistle, goldeneye, whooper swan, bean goose, redstart, thrushes fieldfare and white-browed, pied flycatcher, common tap dance, derbnik and others. Some songbirds fly to Equatorial Africa for the winter.

Two species of reptiles live in the reserve: the viper and the viviparous lizard, and one species of amphibians, the common frog.

Of the 15 species of fish living in the reserve, 6 belong to the salmon family, pike, perch, and whitefish are common.

The reserve is practically the only place on the Kola Peninsula where European pearl mussel, a mollusk listed in the Red Book of Russia, still lives in some rivers and streams.

Literature:

1. Koshechkin B.I. "Pearl in the hands of Lapland". - Leningrad, Hydrometeoizdat, 1985
2. The third edition of the "Great Soviet Encyclopedia" (BSE), published by the publishing house "Soviet Encyclopedia" in 1969 - 1978.
3. Ablaeva Z.Kh. "Lychenoindication mapping of the Lapland Reserve". - Murmansk: Prince. publishing house 1981.
4. Kataev G.D. "Fauna of the Lapland Reserve".

The Kola Peninsula is one of the most picturesque, virgin and harsh Russian regions. This is a real nature reserve, containing huge wealth in its bowels and reservoirs. What is the Kola Peninsula?

Russia is rich in magnificent vast expanses of the North. One of the most remarkable places will be discussed in this article.

General information

The land washed by two seas (White and Barents) is a real nature reserve. Its territory contains more than one third of all world minerals of the planet. Here, vast plateaus and majestic mountains give way to lakes and forests. The reservoirs of the Kola Peninsula are full of various fish (about 100 species). Thanks to the laws of the polar latitudes, the change of day and night in these places gives an indescribable fairy-tale spectacle - the Northern Lights. And what kind of original people live from the Kola Peninsula to Taimyr? More on this below.

Numerous tourists come here. Ski lovers test their strength and endurance on the slopes of the Khibiny, where the resorts are located. Warm weather attracts lovers of rafting on mountain rivers. The peninsula is also famous for its amazingly clean icy lakes and Khibiny passes. Here you can perfectly hunt, fish and get acquainted with the local peoples (Sami) and their original culture.

Geographical position

The Kola Peninsula is located in the extreme Russian north, and almost all of its territory is located beyond the Arctic Circle.

On the northern coast of the Kola Peninsula, the waters of the great Barents Sea stretch, in the east and south - the White Sea. The western boundary of the Kola Peninsula is the meridional depression, which extends from the Kola Bay along the valley of the river. Cola, oh Imandra and R. Niva to the Kandalaksha Bay. Its area is approximately 100,000 sq. kilometers.

It should be noted that approximately 70% of the Murmansk region is located on the Kola Peninsula.

Due to the fact that the Kola Peninsula was formed due to heaps of tectonic plates, the landscape here presents a wide variety of forms: the Khibiny mountain ranges (heights up to 1200 meters); alpine plateaus with coniferous forests; tundra Lovozero with unique circuses (glacial bowls 200 meters high and several kilometers long) and taiga; lowlands and depressions; swamps, lakes, rivers, etc. A huge amount of minerals is contained in the natural depths, 150 of which are found nowhere else on Earth.

It is also noteworthy that the Russian border with Norway and Finland passes through the peninsula, and there are three checkpoints of international importance for cars. Thanks to this, travelers have the opportunity to independently make trips to this amazing Kola Peninsula.

Story

Until the beginning of the 20th century, only the northern part of the coast of the peninsula (from the Norwegian border to Svyatoy Nos) was called Murman. In the future and to this day, it means the entire Kola Peninsula.

The southern coast is historically divided into the Kandalaksha and Tersky coasts.

The peninsula in tectonic terms is located on the Baltic Shield (North-Eastern part), composed of the oldest rocks of the crystalline basement: granites, gneisses, diabases.

Infrastructure

The Kola Peninsula has located several cities on its territories: Murmansk is the capital, which is the largest port of the Russian Arctic; Severomorsk - base of the Northern Fleet; Khibiny and Apatity are the gates to Khibiny.

There are even smaller cities such as Kola, Kandalaksha and Kirovsk Ostrovnoy, as well as several other urban-type settlements: Umba, Kildinstroy and Revda.

The bases of the Russian Northern Fleet - Gremikha and Severomorsk - are also located on the peninsula. The latter is the headquarters of the Northern Fleet.

Climate

The Kola Peninsula has peculiar weather conditions that change quite unexpectedly: in summer there may be morning frosts, and in winter periods - blizzards, and protracted ones.

And yet, thanks to the warm current of the North Atlantic, the northwest of the peninsula has a rather mild subarctic maritime climate. For example, in Severomorsk and Murmansk, the average January temperature is only -8 ° Celsius. Kirovsk and Apatity are characterized by colder winter weather - up to -15 °. And on the slopes of the Khibiny ski snow can lie until May.

The main natural climatic spectacle on the peninsula is the northern lights. And in June-July, you can admire the sun that does not set beyond the horizon and feel the darkness of the night in December-January (when there is also aurora).

Relief of the Kola Peninsula

The Kola Peninsula occupies the northeastern part of the large Baltic Shield, which determines the main feature of the relief on it - a large number of cracks and faults of this crystalline plate. There are also traces of a fairly strong influence of glaciers that have smoothed mountain peaks and preserved a large amount of moraine deposits and boulders. The peninsula was covered more than once by powerful glaciers advancing from the territory of Scandinavia. The last glaciation ended about 10,000 years ago.

The mountains here are flat high plateaus, abruptly breaking off to the lowlands and dissected by deep gorges and valleys. Naked placers of stones and fragments of rocks cover their surface.

In addition, rivers, which carry debris and form large deltas at their mouths, had a great influence on the formation of the relief.

The peninsula, according to the nature of its relief, is divided into eastern and western parts, the border between which runs through the Voronya (river) valley, through Umbozero, Lovozero and the Umba river valley.

In the northeastern part, the coast of the Kola Peninsula (plateau) abruptly breaks off to the throat of the White Sea and to the Barents Sea. It is carved by gorges, with the channels of the rivers Iokanga, Vostochnaya Litsa, Kharlovka, and the lower reaches of the Ponoi running along them. To the south, the plateau gradually rises to a height of 300 meters and abruptly breaks off to a lowland with swamps. This region is called the Keiva Ridge.

Minerals

In terms of the variety of minerals, the Kola Peninsula has no analogues in the world. There are about 1000 of them on its territory, 150 of which are unique and are found only here.

There are deposits of ores of apatite and nepheline ores (in the Khibiny Mountains), nickel, iron, platinum, rare earth metals, titanium, lithium, beryllium, jewelry and ornamental stones and building stones (chrysolite, amazonite, garnet, amethyst, jasper, etc.), mica, etc.

Vegetation

Three areas of vegetation stand out on the peninsula: forest, tundra and forest-tundra. The southern territory is a forest zone. Pine and spruce forests grow here: aspen, birch, willow, alder and mountain ash. It should be noted that these forests are heavily swamped, which is why shrubs and moss are common in them. The mountainous terrain at altitudes from 400 to 600 meters has birch crooked forests and shrubs, and at a level of up to 650 meters - lichens.

The tundra vegetation is located in the northeastern and northern parts of the peninsula. In these places, lichens, mosses, varieties of creeping willow and dwarf birch predominate. In the river valleys, you can also see woody shrubs. A feature is birch crooked forests growing interspersed with pine and undersized spruce. In more arid places, the soil and stones are covered with a thick layer of reindeer moss. In the forests of the tundra there are large berry fields (cloudberries, blueberries, crowberries, lingonberries), and mushroom places (volunushki, boletus, russula, boletus).

Hydrology

The Kola Peninsula is a country of lakes, in no way inferior to its neighbor Karelia. There are a lot of them, and from the smallest to such large ones as Imandra.

The rivers that feed the lakes and connect them with each other carry their waters to the Barents and White Seas. In these places they are rapids and abounding in water, with surprisingly picturesque shores.

The Kola Peninsula is rich in numerous reservoirs. Their names are: Ponoi (the longest Kola river), Yokanga, Kola, Varzuga, Umba, Kola, Teriberka, Voronya, etc.

There are a considerable number of lakes, the largest of which are Imandra, Lovozero and Umbozero.

Attractions

There are 2 more unique natural areas - Kuzomensky sands and Tersky coast. The second is the most picturesque place on the Kola Peninsula. This is the coast of the White Sea, strewn with sparkling fragments of real amethysts.

Kuzomensky sands are dunes of multi-colored sand, stretching for almost 13 kilometers along the seashore.

Lake Imandra is an ideal place for a relaxing holiday in the bosom of stunning nature: sandbanks, pebble beaches, sharp rocks, boulders.

The most popular leisure activities are hiking in the valleys and forests. On Lake Lovozero (an area of ​​about 200 km), surrounded by the Lovozero tundra (low mountains), seasonal camp sites operate. You can climb in the tundra.

In conclusion about the locals

From the Kola Peninsula to Taimyr, along the vast coast of the Arctic Ocean, the locals make up most of the 45,000 people who live throughout Russia. Their name in translation means "real person" (more outdated - Samoyeds). Their main occupation is reindeer herding, hunting and fishing.

The Nenets (Samoyed ethnic group) is the most numerous of all the indigenous peoples of the vast Russian North. According to the latest population census, approximately 27 thousand people of this nationality live in the Yamal-Nenets district, and these peoples are divided into forest and tundra groups.

Each of them has its own history, customs and traditions.

The reservoirs of the Kola Peninsula have long been famous for their fish wealth. In its lakes and rivers there are 24 species of fish belonging to 12 families. These are lamprey, salmon, grayling, smelt, pike, carp, eel, cod, stickleback, perch, goby and flatfish.

Another 13 species and varieties of fish are associated with the Barents and White Seas, washing the Kola Peninsula. They are called brackish water because they use fresh water temporarily. These are sea lamprey, salmon, brown trout, char, nelma, whitefish, pyzhyan, smelt, eel, sculpin goby, White Sea flounder, northern river flounder and polar flounder.

The freshwater fishes of the Kola Peninsula have a certain connection with the ichthyofauna of the Baltic basin. Once between the reservoirs of the Murmansk region through the reservoirs of northern, middle and southern Karelia there was a water communication with the Baltic. This is evidenced by the similarity and affinity of the freshwater fish fauna of the Kola Peninsula with the fish of the Baltic basin. So, in Lake Imandra and many other lakes of the Kola Peninsula lives vendace. Ichthyologists have established that it retains signs of the European and Baltic Sea vendace.

Fish of rivers and lakes of the Kola Peninsula: 1 - perch, 2 - vendace, 3 - char, 4 - roach, 5 - brown trout, 6 - salmon, 7 - minnow, 8 - trout, 9 - grayling, 10 - whitefish, 11 - burbot

This is a small silver fish with a black back, up to 17 centimeters long and weighing up to 20 grams. The usual age of commercial vendace is 3-4 years. The vendace feeds on small aquatic organisms living in the water column: daphnia, cyclops, etc. The fecundity of vendace is low - several hundred eggs, but in the largest females this number reaches one and a half thousand. Vendace spawns in autumn on sandy areas, at a depth of no more than 1 meter.

One of the most common lake fish on the Kola Peninsula is whitefish. There are several breeds of whitefish living on the Kola Peninsula, differing from each other in places and times of spawning, growth rate, feeding habits, fatness and other features.

Whitefish feed on benthic animals, mainly insect larvae, molluscs and aquatic crustaceans - gammarus. All these organisms live mainly on stones, or rather under stones, so as not to be washed by fast water.

Some types of whitefish are characterized by rapid growth and good fatness.

And now in many lakes, for example, Umba and Imandra, very large whitefish are found. So, in the autumn of 1960, a 15-year-old whitefish 67 centimeters long and weighing 6.2 kilograms was caught near Cloudy Island in Lake Imandra.

Whitefish are more prolific than other salmon fish. Small females spawn about 10 thousand eggs, and large ones - up to 200 thousand. Whitefish is a valuable commercial fish of the Murmansk region.

Grayling- lover of cold and fast water. It lives on the Kola Peninsula in Lake Imandra, Umbozero, in the tributaries of Notozero, Pinozero, in the rivers Tuloma, Varzuga, Kitsa, Niva, Pan, Ponoe. The average weight of commercial grayling is 800 grams, the average length is 41 centimeters.

Grayling is caught on the Kola Peninsula mainly by amateur fishermen. It rarely forms large clusters.

In early spring, grayling gathers at the newly opened scours, and then rises to the rivers and streams to spawn.

Grayling is the most omnivorous of all Kola fish. It feeds on small aquatic organisms, grabbing land insects that have fallen into the water. Large graylings also eat fish, swallow voles and lemmings. Thanks to such a good appetite, grayling finds food everywhere and quickly gets fat in summer.

The fertility of grayling, depending on the size, ranges from 2 to 6 thousand eggs.

The first summer of life grayling fry spend in the river. At this time, they are not at all similar in color to adult fish - large dark spots appear on their sides. Later, these spots disappear.

Lamprey found in many rivers of the Kola Peninsula up to the Kandalaksha Bay. This fish is not commercial.

Smelt and smelt in the Murmansk region are rare and have no economic value. These fish spawn in spring in estuaries in shallow areas. Smelt feeds on small planktonic crustaceans, smelt is a predator.

Pike, burbot, perch, roach and ide are common in almost all reservoirs of the peninsula, but compared to whitefish, the number of these fish is small.

The pike is the most widespread of them. She prefers places where there is aquatic vegetation. It feeds on any fish that it can swallow. Pike spawn in early spring in thawed shallow waters, among the grass, when the lake is still mostly under ice. The number of eggs, depending on the size of the fish, usually ranges from 10 to 150 thousand.

Perch adheres to relatively small areas of the lake with aquatic vegetation. In spring, when the water temperature reaches +8°C, ribbons of perch caviar appear in the grass. The fecundity of perch is quite high - from 100 to 400 thousand eggs. The perch feeds mainly on benthic invertebrates, but on occasion it also eats small fish.

Burbot needs cold water. By way of life, this is a bottom fish. In summer it lives in the depths of pits, and in winter it goes to comparatively shallow places. Burbot is a predator, but unlike the pike, it does not chase prey, since the shape of the body does not allow it to swim quickly. But if a burbot gets into a net where there is a vendace, it swallows it in dozens. In the Murmansk region, burbot spawns very early, already in March, under the ice. His caviar is very small and the number of eggs reaches several hundred thousand. Burbot meat is lean, all fat is concentrated in the liver, exceptionally tender and tasty.

From the Barents Sea into the rivers of the region comes sea ​​char. In the large deep lakes of the peninsula, this fish has its own subspecies - palia. Palii live in Imandra, in Lovozero, in the lakes of Monche-tundra, in the lakes of the Tuloma River basin.

Char is a beautiful fish with a light green back, yellowish and pinkish belly, with pink spots on the sides. It feeds mainly on vendace. The caviar of the char is very large, yellow. Charr does not enter the rivers at all, and he does not have to fight with a strong current. Therefore, the tail of the char is much weaker, and he himself is less strong than other fish of the salmon family. He spawns in autumn in lakes on stones or snags.

Charr fry hatch in spring, live and develop in the lake.

The char becomes sexually mature at the sixth or seventh year of life. Its fertility is low. A female weighing one and a half kilograms spawns only 2.5-4 thousand eggs.

Of the other salmonids on the Kola Peninsula, two anadromous species are best known - salmon and trout.

Salmon, being a representative of Atlantic salmon, enters the rivers of the Kola Peninsula from the side of the Barents and White Seas. This is the most delicious, most valuable commercial fish of the Kola Peninsula. Salmon spawn in the upper reaches of the rivers, and after spawning, a significant part of the males die. Caviar, large, orange, is buried by the female in pebbles. Juveniles usually live in the river for 3-4 years, then slide into the sea. Adult salmon feed in the sea, mainly on fish. In the river, she almost does not feed.

At present, artificial breeding of salmon is organized at special plants on the Kola Peninsula.

There are three types of brown trout on the Kola Peninsula: sea trout (anadromous), lake trout and brook trout.

sea ​​trout enters all the rivers of the peninsula from the Barents and White Seas. Lake trout (trout) lives in Imandra, in Umbozero, in Lovozero and other large lakes.

The lakes and rivers of the Kola Peninsula create very favorable conditions for the life and prosperity of trout. Our lakes are large and deep, have a flow and developed river systems, the rivers are fast and rapids. Trout love this environment.

Trout and trout are always provided with food, as they are picky and eat everything, including smelt, minnow, smelt and other small fish. Brown trout have red meat, tasty and tender. This fast predator has a dense, torpedo-shaped body with a wide strong tail, very sharp and slightly recurved teeth.

A large trout caught on a lure strongly resists (jumps high out of the water.

In autumn, the brown trout enters rivers and streams, spawns on shallow rifts, on a pebble bottom. The female digs a hole at the bottom, spawns eggs, and then digs in a hole so that a tubercle is obtained above it. After that, the fish slide back into the lake.

Caviar lies under a layer of pebbles until the next spring, when fry hatch from it. Small trout stay in the river or stream where they were born for 2-3 years, and then swim into the lake, where they begin to eat better, grow faster and become adults.

Some juveniles of brown trout do not leave streams for lakes and remain in them for the rest of their lives. This fish is called trout. In streams, trout become sexually mature and immediately spawn. They grow slowly and only rare of them reach a weight of 1 kilogram. These fish, like young trout that have not yet rolled into the lake, differ from adults in their appearance. They have a darker color, and 3 rows of red spots go along the sides.

The fecundity of brown trout is low - only about 3000 eggs. The sexually mature brown trout becomes late, in the seventh or eighth year of life, and spawns not every year.

On the Kola Peninsula, experiments are currently being carried out on the acclimatization of Far Eastern pink salmon. If this fish takes root in the Kola waters, then the rich salmon family of the North will be replenished with another promising sister.

Climatic conditions, geological structure and relief of the region contribute to the formation of a large number of lakes on the territory of Karelia and the Kola Peninsula. The lakes here have a wide variety of sizes: from Ladoga and Onega, which are the largest lakes in Europe, to numerous small reservoirs, the areas of which are measured in tenths and hundredths of a square kilometer. There are about 42,000 lakes on the territory of Karelia, and this number includes only lakes with an area of ​​more than 0.01 km2.

A certain pattern is found in the distribution of lakes over the territory of the region under consideration: they are located in successive chains in the direction from northwest to southeast. Lake basins have an elongated shape, and the long axis of the lakes has the same orientation - from northwest to southeast. This orientation of lake groups and individual lakes is explained by the origin of lake basins developed in fissures and normal faults.

Features and types of lakes in Karelia

Quaternary glaciation played an important role in the formation and subsequent reformation of lake basins. The tectonic basins of the lakes bear pronounced traces of the erosive activity of the glacier. This is especially clearly seen in the example of Lake Onega, the northern shore of which is indented by long and narrow bays oriented in the direction of the glacier movement - from northwest to southeast.

Lakes usually consist of one narrow, long stretch and a large number of narrow bays and bays. If we add to this the presence of capes and numerous islands deeply protruding into the lake, then all this together gives the lake landscape a skerry character. The bottom topography of the lakes is extremely uneven. Areas of great depths, often in the form of narrow trenches, alternate with underwater elevations or shoals (locally - luds). Often coastal hills (locally - selgi), approaching the lake, continue further, under water. The depths of the lakes range from 10 to 100 m or more. The bottom soil is predominantly rocky, gravelly or sandy.

Along with lakes of tectonic origin, there are many glacial lakes in the area under consideration. These include dammed lakes, i.e., such reservoirs that were formed as a result of blocking the flow of surface water by natural dams - glacial terminal moraine ridges.

Among the lakes of the region, many are among the small swampy reservoirs, locally called lampi or lambins. These lakes have low peaty shores, a viscous bottom and shallow depths. According to the thermal regime, the lakes of the region belong to the lakes of the temperate zone, which are characterized by reverse temperature stratification in winter, equalization of water temperature at depth in spring (spring homothermy) and direct stratification in the warm part of the year, in most cases with a pronounced jump layer.

The ice regime of lakes, in addition to meteorological factors, depends on the area of ​​the lake surface, depth, volume of water masses and other reasons. With the onset of winter, small lakes and bays of large lakes freeze first, then middle lakes and coastal parts of large lakes; later than others, the open central parts of large reservoirs are covered with ice.

All lakes of the region are fresh water bodies with very low salinity (10-20 mg/l).

The largest lakes of Karelia and the Kola Peninsula

Ladoga lake collects water from a vast basin with an area of ​​276,000 km 2, which includes the basins of the Vuoksa, Svir with Lake Onega and Volkhov with Lake. Ilmen. The Neva flows out of the lake, which is a short but powerful river that connects it to the Baltic Sea. The excess of the level of Lake Ladoga above the level of the Baltic Sea is on average 4.3 m. During the period of water surges from the Gulf of Finland, when the level rise at the mouth of the Neva reaches 4 m, the backwater extends almost to the lake itself.

The level of the lake during the year fluctuates between 50-70 cm. The long-term amplitude of level fluctuations reaches 2.9 m. The highest level is observed in June. The lake is often rough; wave height reaches 2 m or more.

Lake Onega- the second largest lake in Europe. In terms of an area equal to 9900 km 2, it ranks fourth among the large lakes of Russia. Its maximum depth does not exceed 120 m. The main tributaries of Lake Onega are Shuya, Suna and Vodla. River flows out of it. Svir.

The amplitude of fluctuations in the lake level is small and amounts to 50-55 cm per year; its long-term values ​​are 1.8-19 m, depending on the nature of the weather in a given year, there is a different type of annual variation in the water level, however, for the most part, the course of the level corresponds to the type of regime with a distinct, albeit low, spring flood. In the secular course of the lake level, a certain cyclicity is observed, which is in good agreement with the course of atmospheric precipitation.

Other major lakes in the area. In addition to the Ladoga and Onega lakes, on the territory of Karelia and the Kola Peninsula there are a number of significant water bodies; basic information about them is given in table. 2.

Table 2. The main lakes of Karelia and the Kola Peninsula